When England's spinners gather round Mushtaq Ahmed, a short man with a long, grey-streaked beard, one is reminded of the spiritual leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the "Sixth Beatle", who was often surrounded by the Fab Four as they searched for wisdom and transcendental meaning.

Mushtaq is England's spin doctor, the leading wicket-taker in English domestic cricket for five summers from 2003 and a man who has certainly grown more guru-like since his retirement from the first-class game last year.

But today, as the England team prepare for their crucial Test against Australia at The Oval, Mushtaq, who signed a three-year part-time contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board in October is, like Andy Flower and the rest of the coaching staff, coming under greater forensic scrutiny.

One supposed reason why England would beat Australia in the Ashes (a daft prediction, probably, since while England were being beaten by West Indies, Australia were winning away to South Africa, on modern evidence the best side in the world) was the superiority of their spinners. England had Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, who were both apparently so much better than Australia's solitary spinner, Nathan Hauritz.

But Haurtitz has taken 10 wickets at 32.10 in three Tests while Swann has just six wickets in four Tests at 68.16. Panesar, meanwhile, was dropped after the first Test in Cardiff and has taken only 10 wickets in nine games at 71.70 for second division Northants.

"Spinners are like trees," says Mushtaq, and for a panic-moment one thinks about Peter Sellers and his role as Chance, the gardener in Being There, whose trite evangelicals, mostly learned from TV, are mistaken for deep philosophical insights.

But let him continue: "Spinners are like trees, because if you protect the trees they will provide you with shade and food very soon. But only as long as you protect them. And that means you must have patience."

Mushtaq, who was promoting the Sky Sports/ECB Coach Education Programme at Hove, defends Swann's role in the series. "I'm not disappointed with Swanny," he says. "He is like a soccer striker who wins one out of three games and shares the load for the other games. That is what a football manager looks for.

"And that is what Swanny did at Lord's. He got four wickets. They were playing well and he got Michael Clarke, and other wickets, and he helped win the Test match. He played his part. And he had already won Tests for England against West Indies.

"I'm so happy for him. He's confident and has a very aggressive action. He's mentally a strong boy. I've never seen any off-spinner, including Saqlain [Mushtaq] and Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan], who can drift the ball and spin it that way.

"He's a big spinner with a huge drift. And he makes the ball dip too. The ball he bowled Ricky Ponting with at Edgbaston – that had drift and dip and turn. But we don't have to assume that he wins every Test match."

Mushtaq is also confident that Swann will develop a mystery ball, or "doosra", which made Saqlain and Muralitharan so formidable. "You will see something very soon," he promises, with a gleam-eye. "He is developing something. He's learning something. He's working at it in the nets.

"But we have to be clever with Swanny. He's an attacking bowler, a strike bowler who is always trying to get people out. We can always have an in-out field. We should not try to change his nature or his attitude, just try to be a bit clever with his field positions, to protect him.

"And we should protect his rhythm. The same with every spinner. By that I mean spinners should bowl lots of overs, play lots of county cricket. So you repeat, repeat body and muscles and action, so their fingers and wrist and action becomes repeatable, second nature, a habit. We're not fast bowlers who have to rest sometimes.

"Swanny's a very good man to have in the dressing room too. He's a good listener. But when things are tense he goes around and gives a lot of energy to the guys. You need someone to break the quietness. I really enjoy his company. He has a good sense of humour."

The more introverted, more controlled Panesar presents other problems. "Our long-term goal with Monty is more variation," said Mushtaq. "But that can only come when he starts taking wickets. When I was not bowling well, not taking wickets, I had to go back to basics, get the momentum right. Monty is going to come back really soon."

There are others too. He is impressed by Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Will Beer (Sussex) and Scott Borthwick (Durham), all leg-spinners: "They all have variations, flipper, top-spinner, leg-break, wrong'un. Spinners are winning one-day games but my worry is that many are spinning less now. They are more concentrating on line and length. And in Test cricket you have to get people out in the slips and bat-pad, to change line and length."

The Beatles, one by one, left their exotic, spiritual mentor. England's spinners, one senses, still have much to learn.